In the next few weeks President Donald Trump is slated to release a highly-anticipated plan for an overhaul of the nation’s infrastructure, and with an anticipated total tag of nearly a trillion dollars, there will certainly be plenty of feeders fighting at the trough of public funds.

Our time is becoming increasingly reminiscent of the Reagan era, during which the “If you build it, they will come” approach led citizens and investors alike to grow comfortable with the idea of incarcerating neighbors for the sake of the city’s economic survival.

Even though prisons and jails aren’t typically considered traditional infrastructure elements - like roads, trains, dams, or bridges might be - in the current landscape, the emphasis on securing sustainable development in locales otherwise unappealing to major corporate investors suggests that their position in the nature’s future can’t go underestimated. In part, this is because there is an ongoing element to establishing a new prison: as long as there are people to put there, there will continue to be jobs for officers, administration, and the various outgrowths of services necessary to keep it operational. Other such projects offer no such ongoing moneyed purpose. Roads, for one, provide temporary construction and maintenance jobs, but beyond toll charges, offer few other renewable revenue streams; bridges and dams may facilitate growth in other areas but are not an industry unto themselves. Prisons and jails, however, continue to seemingly serve a societal function far beyond the construction phase.

MuckRock is continuing to track the proliferation of prisons and privatization. You can continue to follow that work here. As billions of dollars head toward the stated goal of rebuilding America, it remains our responsibility to track where and how those funds are being spent. Want to help? Send your tips and local projects to info@muckrock.com.